


Red Wine and Black Eyes

by icountcards



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Coming Out, Episode Tag, F/F, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Lame title is lame, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 01:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18714157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icountcards/pseuds/icountcards
Summary: Episode tag for 3x20. Desi's date doesn't go so smoothly. Mac lends a hand and learns a little more about his new partner.





	Red Wine and Black Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> basically I'm in the "Desi Nguyen is a lesbian" camp until CBS makes a fool of me again and this fic is an excuse for me to sandbox with that a bit more. 
> 
> Talk to me on [tumblr](https://www.icountcards.tumblr.com)!

Desi’s supposed to be on a date, so Mac is more than a little surprised when her name pops up on his caller ID. 

He frowns as he swipes to answer. “Desi?” 

A sigh echoes across the line in lieu of greeting. “I… might need a favor,” Desi says after a long moment. 

He raises his eyebrows even as he stands and jams his feet into shoes. “If your date went that badly, I'm not helping you bury a body,” he says. It’s probably the truth. (Truth be told, he’s kind of flattered that he’s apparently her exit strategy.)

Desi chuckles briefly, and Mac relaxes marginally. Whatever's gone sideways can't be too bad if she's laughing. “No bodies to bury,” she reassures. A faint female voice in the background chimes in, “but not for lack of trying.” 

Well. That doesn’t exactly sound like a successful date. “No bodies, okay, great. What's going on?” 

“Look, it’s fine if you can't, I know it's late, but… I kind of need a ride?” She sounds embarrassed, and there's definitely something she's not saying, but he's already grabbing his keys while he waits for the explanation. 

“A ride?” he prompts when she doesn't offer any more information. “What happened to your car?”

“The car is fine,” she says, a little too quickly. “It's just, it’s at the restaurant and we're sort of…not?”

Mac rolls his eyes as he walks out the door. “Where are you?” When no reply is immediately forthcoming, he adds, “Can't exactly pick you up if I don't know where I'm going.”  
Desi sighs again and rattles off an address. Mac’s eyebrows climb. He knows that address. 

“Desi, did you get arrested?”

“Not exactly?” There's a faint thump on the line, like she's just covered the speaker with her hand, and he can hear her faintly apologizing to someone. “I told you, it's fine if you can't come, I can call someone else,” she says, normal volume once again. 

“No, it's fine, I'm on my way,” he says, and he waits for a response for a solid few seconds before he realizes she's hung up. 

It's a short and unfortunately familiar drive to the police station. Desi’s standing outside under a security light with a woman with a crew cut in a suit and tie. He sizes up the pair. Desi's got what he sincerely hopes is red wine down the front of her dress, and her companion looks to be sporting the makings of an impressive black eye. Not good signs, although the fact that they're outside and not in a cell means it can't be too bad. He rolls down the window as he approaches them. “Make a new friend?” he asks, nodding at the other woman. 

Desi grins, earrings flashing in the light as she tilts her head. She still looks stunning, even with her makeup smudged and a good portion of her dress several shades darker than it started the evening. “Not exactly,” she says. “Mac, this is Evelyn. My date.” She gestures to the woman—Evelyn—and back to Mac. “Evelyn, Mac.” 

Oh. That’s. Not what he expected. The surprise must show on his face, although it’s as much at Desi’s date not being the reason she’s at the police station as her being a woman. Desi’s giving him a calculatedly expressionless look, waiting for a reaction. He—rather badly—covers his surprise with a nod and an awkward little wave. “Nice to meet you.”

She smiles the tiniest bit in return. “Nice to meet you too,” she says, and her voice sounds like the one he heard earlier providing the editorial commentary on Desi’s lack of bodies to bury. 

Desi sighs yet again. “Sorry,” she says. “Would you be able to give both of us a ride?”

Before Mac can answer, Evelyn cuts in. “You don't have to,” she says. “It's okay, I can walk.” 

Mac shakes his head. If he’s feeling inclined to be honest with himself—not that he really is—he’s maybe a little disappointed that Desi’s date hadn’t gone badly in the way he first assumed, but he’s not a total asshole. “I'm already here, and if Desi likes you, that's enough of an endorsement for me. Hop in.”

They both climb into the backseat, and now that Mac knows the two were on a date, he can see it in the way they lean into each other’s personal space, Desi resting a hand on Evelyn’s arm as she apologizes again for whatever's gotten them into this situation, Evelyn reaching out and brushing a bit of Desi’s mussed hair out of her face. 

Mac fixes the pair with a critical look in the rearview mirror as he pulls out of the parking lot. “So how did you get not-exactly arrested?”

“Well.” Desi pauses for a long moment. “Let's just say one of our fellow restaurant patrons wasn't too happy about our date.”

Evelyn grimaces and rubs the back of her neck. “Apparently holding hands across a table isn't appropriate for children.”

Mac winces. “Harsh.” 

Desi clenches her fist. “There was more, but the rest isn't fit to repeat in polite company.”

“So you, what, beat him up about it?” Mac can't exactly fault her for that. He’s also not sure he qualifies as polite company, but either way, he can make a pretty good guess as to what Desi and Evelyn’s uninvited commentator had to say. 

“Only a little bit,” Desi says. Mac catches a glimpse of Evelyn rolling her eyes fondly. “In my defense,” she adds, “he dumped his wine on me before I started throwing punches.” She gestures to the dark stain down the front of her dress. 

“You should be able to keep that from staining,” he says. “All you have to do is—"

“Thanks, but I'm probably not going to wear it again,” she interrupts. “Too hard to fight in.” She grins, wide and predatory. 

“His date called the cops,” Evelyn chimes in. “Mind you, she looked to be about half his age, if that, but sure, we’re the inappropriate ones.” There's a sharp edge to her tone, equal parts angry and resigned, and Mac grimaces, because tonight’s definitely not the first time she’s heard that. 

“Sorry,” Desi says again. 

“It's not your fault,” Evelyn says, edge dropping right out of her voice. 

Desi grins crookedly. “It's kind of my fault you have a black eye,” she says, reaching across to touch the injury gently. 

“Nah, that's totally my fault for trying to break up a fight,” she says, not sounding too upset about what must be a pretty painful bruise. 

“I wasn't going to really hurt him,” Desi says. “Just encourage him to think before he speaks.” 

“‘Encourage’,” Evelyn echoes, and Mac can hear the air quotes around the word. 

Mac is starting to feel distinctly like a third wheel in his own car. 

“He wanted to press charges,” Desi tells him, just when he's starting to think she's completely forgotten she was telling him this story. “Unfortunately for him, everyone saw him deliberately spill wine on me.” 

“So we had to go down there for questioning, but eventually the police were like ‘nah, man, you're going to lose that one,’ to him and let us go,” Evelyn says. “But someone—" she bumps her shoulder against Desi's and smiles, teasing, “—left their purse at the restaurant so we didn't have cab fare.”

“You left yours too,” Desi mumbles, ducking her head. 

They’ve arrived back at the restaurant where Desi and Evelyn’s date was interrupted. “Sorry again for bothering you,” Desi says. She turns to Evelyn and adds, “and sorry for the terrible date. I know an involuntary trip to the police station isn’t most people’s idea of a good time.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Evelyn says with a shrug. 

Mac raises his eyebrows and sees Desi do the same. 

“What?” she says as she registers their looks. “We all had our wild youth.”

Mac grins. He’d put money on both himself and Desi having Evelyn beat in that department. “We’d both be hypocrites to judge.” 

“Sounds like Des has some stories to tell me,” Evelyn says, and it doesn’t escape Mac’s notice that they’re apparently close enough already for Evelyn to be calling her Des. “It was a pretty terrible date, though,” she adds, and her eyes glitter with amusement, like she’s got a great joke she’s about to tell and she’s doing her best not to laugh at it. She glances over at Desi, who’s paused halfway out of the car to listen. “Might need a do-over.” A playful smile flits across her face. 

Desi smiles widely as the two exit the car. “Thanks again for the ride,” she tells Mac. “I owe you one.” 

“Yeah, thanks a lot,” Evelyn says. “Nice meeting you.” 

“Hey, no problem,” Mac says. “That’s what friends are for.” And maybe he’s overstepping, calling himself a friend, but Desi definitely seems like she could use friends. Besides, he’s pretty sure they’re up to enough shared near-death experiences that “coworkers” doesn’t quite cut it anymore. 

She doesn’t correct him, anyway, just says, “See you tomorrow,” over her shoulder as she and Evelyn walk away. He faintly hears Desi ask Evelyn if she’s free next Friday, and he shoves down the tiny sliver of envy in the pit of his stomach. He’ll get over it, and Desi and Evelyn make a cute couple, ruined dress and black eye notwithstanding. He heads for home, car almost uncomfortably silent now without the pair. 

The next morning, Desi arrives to work looking far too chipper for someone who was in a fistfight in a fancy restaurant less than twelve hours ago. “Morning,” she says brightly.

“You’re in a good mood,” Bozer says, like that’s somehow suspicious. “Date went well?” Mac side-eyes him, because that’s Bozer’s trying-a-little-too-hard-for-casual tone, and he really, really needs to work on that if he doesn’t want to tip everyone off every time there’s something more to what he’s asking.

Desi must notice it too, but she ignores it and smiles. “Yeah,” she says. “It was… definitely not boring.”


End file.
